


After the Fact

by thatdragonchic



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mac has a (serious) boyfriend, Mac is working through some things, Mentions of Jack Dalton, coda to 3.18, they talk through things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-11 01:45:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18420287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatdragonchic/pseuds/thatdragonchic
Summary: Mac makes dinner after his fishing trip with his dad- Jasper comes over and they talk





	After the Fact

Mac discovers why Jasper Sheriff likes cooking so much. There’s something very thought provoking about listening to pasta water boil as he leans against the counter with a coffee mug, letting hard noodles turn soft. His mind was writing poetry on chemical equations, and buzzing with his previous messages to Jasper, wondering if he’d come early, thinking about his afternoon fishing with his dad- praying he didn’t get the funky idea to drop in on Mac’s house. He really hopes his dad is too tired to even call that night, there was something relieving about the idea of finding sanction in his lover. 

He finally turns off the water, and finds the pasta is soft, putting his mug down and grabbing the strainer (he had, in fact, watched 30 minutes worth of tutorials to learn how to make a lasagna, no they did not help him differentiate between zucchinis and cucumbers, but who needs veggies in a lasagna anyways?) and he strains the water out from the lasagna noodles, and he leaves them to squirm in the pot and then settle as he grabs a sheet. He really hopes he has enough sauce. 

Laying out one layer sauce, then a layer of pasta, then cheese, then some of the ground beef, then he repeats. He makes a little bit of a lopsided, cheese loaded lasagna, which is maybe a bit dry on the top. But he has no more sauce, and well, cheese doesn’t dry, right? Cheese makes everything better. 

So he puts it in the preheated oven, and goes to finish his coffee. Once it’s done, he turns off the oven and sets up the table outside, so much as lights one of the few candles he keeps around the house. He puts it on the table between the plates. Does he make a salad? He’s ashamed to admit he’s not really sure how to make a salad. Not a good one anyones- he does have hummus from Trader Joes, so he pulls that out and opens the package and puts pita chips in a bowl to make it look a little better. He’s just returning to the kitchen when the door opens- god he hopes it wasn’t Desi, or Riley, or Matty- he looks up to see Jasper standing by the doorway looking around a bit perplexed.

“What smells so good?” he asks, sauntering over to the kitchen, casually draping his suit jacket over a chair. 

“I made dinner,” Mac says, a bit shyly, Jasper laughing.

“You did?” He asks, pulling Mac in by the waist, and Mac nods, a blush rising on his cheeks. 

“Yes? Lasagna and I set up some hummus on the-  _ mm! _ ” Mac hums as Jasper pulls him into a passionate kiss, then another and another. They were brief, playful, infatuated kisses, throbbing with love and adornment. Mac moans softly again into the kiss, hand on Jasper’s neck, kissing him deeply, affectionately. He giggles as they part, kissing Jasper once more. “What was that for?”

“You’re so cute,” Jasper coos, kissing his cheek affectionately, Mac smiling. 

“Thanks… I didn’t even burn dinner, it all came out as it’s supposed to! I think?”

“Well, where is it?”

“The oven to stay warm.”

“Did you turn the oven off?”

Mac scoffs. “Yes i turned the oven off,” he says as if offended but smiles anyways, leaning in and pressing their foreheads together. “Oh I’ve had such a long day.”

“Do tell…”

“Later. Lasagna, remember?”

“Yes, yes, I remember. Come on,” he encourages. Mac smiles, kissing him once more, lingering on Jasper’s lips before going to grab the lasagna from the oven, his henley pulled tight over his body. Jasper follows Mac outside, hand on his lower back, gasping as he sees the table, and the effort he put in. 

“It’s not much…”

“No, don’t say that, it’s perfect. I love it, more than you know.”

Mac puts the lasagna on the table, and steps back, tossing the towel casually over his shoulder. 

“I didn’t make the hummus.”

“Jones, I don’t think you even know what a chickpea looks like.”

Mac wants to object but does, and laughs. “Shut up, can we just eat?”

“Sure, sure.”

“How were your think tank meetings, Mr. Businessman?”

“Ugh, exhausting.” Jasper flops into the chair at the side of the table, reaching his hand out to Mac. “People are just so greedy, but I am a very valuable prize.”

“Of course you are,” Mac agrees. “Besides those pictures you sent, of the plans? They were totally ingenious.” 

Jasper smiles shyly, pursing his lips slightly in that way he does when he wants to hide his smile. “Well, you helped make the final plans… Besides, it’s definitely not my best idea. I might settle for ten million?”

“That’s more than the government would ever take any of my ideas. I mean the highest the government has offered is five-”

“Based on a monthly value so actually over 12 months, pre tax, you’ve made 60 million. Post taxes, approx… 48 million, give or take?”

Mac nods. “You’re right, but you’ve made that much in a  _ week _ . Do you see my point?”

Jasper nods. “Join Zeus, sell privately,” he encourages, offering his hand, and Mac laces their hands together. He kisses at Jasper’s knuckles, chewing over the words. They’ve talked about it before- did he mean it? Has he always meant it?

“I can’t leave when my dads so sick… i mean, I know he says he’s doing fine, but i just… I want him to really be doing fine. I want him to get better- is that twisted?”

“No… I think it’s perfectly natural. He’s obviously trying, and you two are getting along a lot better right?”

“Yeah, I guess… but he just… likes to pretend like he never left me. Like he knows me better than anyone else in the world, or that everything that needs to be said is left unsaid- but the lunches, and now helping him get better… just… it feels like we’re getting along Jessie.” Mac stands to serve their plates, but Jasper is already halfway to it by the time Mac is standing.

“Sit, give me your plate,” he demands, his voice soft and gentle regardless. “You need to talk to him about it, you deserve an apology that’s sincere, not thrown out there because your life is on the line… and I know he can’t control having Cancer but… it just seems a bit convient on his behalf.”

“A little…” Mac agrees, taking a pita chip. “I don’t know… I just… it almost feels like I could tell him anything but… part of me doesn’t trust him like that, says I can’t.”

Jasper nods. “I know that feeling… my dad was kind of the same.”

“Your dad was a psycho in a cult.”

“And your dad left you for years and manipulated a large portion of your life, similar means of production yield similar results.”

Mac scoffs a bit, nodding, looking up and squinting at Jasper, but he’s smiling a bit. “Yeah… I guess.”

Jasper sits with his plate, taking his fork and looking at Mac. “Well, it’s your creation, take the first bite.”

Mac laughs, looking down at the plate.

“I’m kind of scared, honestly,” he admits and Jasper shakes his head, digging his fork into the lasagna, doesn’t even stop to inspect the layers, or smell to see whats in the sauce, and takes a bite, even so much as dramatically rolls his eyes. “It’s not that good.”

“How’d you know my weakness was store brand mozzarella?”

“How could you even  _ tell _ ?”

“I have a taste bud detector for the sin that is cheap cheese. The tiny french man who lives on my right shoulder yells at me, while the small american man on the left has put on a cheerleading uniform and firecrackered into the heavens.”

Mac laughs. “You’re exaggerating to make me feel better.”

“I think it’s the best lasagna I’ve ever had,” Jasper says, so sincerely Mac believes it, smiling as he watches Jasper prove his point by taking another bite. 

 

Mac rests his head on Jasper’s chest, hand caressing just under his pecks, over the soft tshirt he was was wearing, listening to his heart beat in his chest, slow, and constant. He glances up at him, watching him read an article on his phone. 

“Maybe I should tell him about you,” Mac says softly. 

“Only if you wanted.”

“Don’t you care if he knows?”

Jasper shifts, putting his phone down and wrapping his arm around Mac’s shoulder. “Not really. Do you?”

“But you should care..”

“I mean, I do care, to some extent, but I think… he’s your family, and if you trust him enough to come out to him and tell him, than that’s great, but you know… if that’s not something you want to share with him, I get it. That’s your decision though. I don’t know the guy.”

“Would you tell your dad if you still spoke to him?”

“Mac, honey, I was in an arranged marriage with a woman because they had the slightest suspicion I was gay. He’d shoot me in the head, then shoot you in the head.” 

Mac laughs. “Right, right but if you talked and were like on good terms-”

“Babe?”

“I know but-”

“No-”

“Like hypothetically-”

“Stop, stop,” Jasper says, sitting them both up, and taking Mac by the arms and staring him in the eyes. “There is no such thing and no such possibility.”

“But-”

“No such thing, no such possibility.”

Mac smiles a bit and nods. “No such thing, and no such possibility.”

“Good, glad we’re on the same page,” he says, nodding certainly. Mac nods, kissing Mac briefly. “Okay but… like if you were in my situation, and had someone you wanted to tell but didn’t know how to- I mean, I don’t know, would you?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never met him, remember babe?”

“I should tell him.”

“But only if you want to tell him. If you think it’s  _ safe  _ to tell him, Jones.”

“I… I don’t know. He’s never even mentioned something like that.”

“I mean, we’re not engaged or moving in together- boyfriend sounds… you know, a lot less serious than if you went ‘hey I’m bisexual, and hey I’m engaged to a man.’”

“Right…” Mac agrees,  the two slowly sinking back down to the pillows in the bed, and Mac falls back against his chest, in the same position he did earlier. He leans over and kisses his neck, Jasper squeezing his shoulder. 

“Not that I don’t want to  _ be _ -”

“I know.”

“It’s not good timing for us,” Jasper says softly and Mac nods.

“I just… I wish he’d let me take him to that clinic in Berlin, they called to confirm an appointment, and I promised I’d bring him next week for a screening. But he’s insisting his doctors are just fine-”

“Maybe he’s just accepted what’s happening to him.”

“I don’t want to lose him,” Mac says again, panic seeping into his voice. “I just got him back- and Jack is gone, and I might never get him back-”

“Jack is going to come back,” Jasper promises. “Jack is going to be fine, and your dad… you know, he still has a fighting chance at being okay. Miracles happen, don’t they?”

“I don’t know… I don’t know, I can’t bet my chances on miracles. I mean Berlin has this amazing hospital that could help him and- why doesn’t he want the help? He keeps saying I’m the best care he could get, but…”

“You’re worrying yourself sick, Mac.”

“Jasper he has  _ cancer _ .”

“My grandfather has had cancer my whole life and I’m pretty sure the dipshit is still kicking in some hell hole or other, doing whatever it is he does for his own gain. I mean seriously, I’m pretty sure he’s been running on hatred and spite for years.”

“My dads not a hateful personal.”

“Yeah but you are your fathers son, and well, I don’t really think Cancer is gonna stop him from living or anything.”

“Has your grandfather really had cancer your whole life?”

“Yeah, there’s a rumor he’s in some nursing home apartment somewhere in southern cali, south from here I’m pretty sure. He’s not in LA, I checked all the nursing home facilities.”

“I thought you were from south Carolina.”

“We are, but Uncle Chris lives down here, and Aunt Kate died I think, but I’m not really sure.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Checked the press releases, and some morgue reports. And Uncle Chris moved before I left.”

“Oh… And they’re not around here?”

“I don’t think so,” he admits. “Even if they were, LA is a big city, never ran into them.”

Mac nods, rubbing his chest. “I just… I’m so scared.”

“I know babe.” Jasper kisses his forehead, and Macs eyes shut, letting the comfort seep in. “It’s gonna be okay though… you’re gonna be okay.”

Mac smiles. “We’re gonna be okay, and the second I’m sure he’s fine, we can… get a nice house together somewhere. Maybe a penthouse in the city, become professors at a nice college or something… Get married, adopt a few kids.”

“Like two kids,” Jasper chips in teasingly and Mac smiles.

“At least two kids.”

“Maybe two kids.”

“And a puppy.”

“Don’t forget whiskey.”

“Two kids, a puppy, and your cat Whiskey.”

Jasper says something but Mac doesn’t really heart it as he’s lulled into sleep. He only wakes up to his alarm for his morning run. He lays there on Jasper’s chest a moment, still there from the night before, just admires his strong neck, his facial hair, the way it curves along his jaw. He sighs, heavily, and turns over to turn the alarm off. Jasper turns over and yanks him into his arms.

“Don’t go,” Jasper whispers.

“Okay, just this once,” Mac agrees, and he can feel Jasper smile as he presses his face into his shoulder blade. Maybe he’ll tell his dad, maybe he’ll tell him in Berlin. Maybe it’ll be okay. Maybe.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
